As is well known, a standard closure for an intravenous solution bottle consists of a stopper which is permanently secured to the bottle by a metal rim. A protective disc covers the stopper (and any membrane which extends over the stopper), and the entire assembly is then protected by a thin metal outer cap having a skirt which is crimped about the bottle neck. In use, the breakaway metal cap is removed by pulling an integral tear tab, the protective disc is discarded, and suitable attachments are made through the stopper for administering the contents of the bottle to a patient.
Prior to such administration, it may be desirable to add certain medicaments or other additives to the contents of the bottle. In such a case, the original breakaway cap and disc are removed and discarded, the additive is injected into the bottle, and a protective replacement cap, usually identical to the original breakaway cap, is fitted and crimped in place. Such caps are commercially available expressly for replacement purposes, as are crimping devices for manually crimping the skirts of those caps.
While a variety of manually-operable crimpers have been known and used in the past, such devices have generally been relatively complex in design, heavy and awkward to manipulate, and expensive to manufacture and purchase. Despite their elaborate construction, or perhaps because of it, such crimpers sometimes fail to operate properly to produce the intended results.